Newspapers

March 22, 2017

Note: this editorial was published March 4, 2017 in response to a series of investigative reports by The Spec's Joanna Frketich on salary compensation for the president of Mohawk College. Two podcast interviews on the subject of secrecy and information - one with Ontario's deputy premier and one with Jim Poling - can be found here and here.

This editorial, published in The Hamilton Spectator, is the final blog report for Newsroom Insider. Newsroom Insider has evolved into newsroom podcast. The podcast, written and delivered by several journalists in the Spec newsroom, explores newsroom issues in an audio format. The podcast is found here.

No Room for Secret Salaries

In 1996, Ontario passed the Public Salary Disclosure Act to bring transparency and accountability to the public payroll.

The act requires organizations that receive provincial money to annually disclose the names, salaries, job title and taxable benefits of provincial and municipal employees earning more than $100,000 a year, and to publicly list the names and salaries by March 31.

Some might think talking about other people's salaries is uncouth and plebeian. Others believe the $100,000 benchmark is fuel for hot-button politics. Yet the disclosure provides a measure of accountability and insight into how tax dollars are spent.

The intent of the law is clear: let taxpayers know how much they are paying for service. It's been 21 years since the government brought in the Sunshine Law and now, in a new age with increased demands for transparency, it appears the law is being skirted. Public salaries and expenses, in some corners, remain shielded, hidden or obfuscated.

Recent reporting, including a story today by The Spectator's Joanna Frketich, revealed Mohawk College president Ron McKerlie was publicly being paid for one job, but a contract and expenses for a second job as head of the college's Foundation were secret. The foundation contract and expenses are exempt from provincial rules and freedom of information requests and documents show the college sought legal advice to package the salaries as a way to circumvent a provincially-imposed wage freeze.

The two sums bring McKerlie's total salary with full performance bonus to just over $417,000, which exceeds a proposed $401,000 wage cap for Mohawk College, a cap that has already been rejected by the province as too high.

The revelation that public salary money was kept hidden drew a rebuke from Deputy Premier Deb Matthews, who called on Mohawk "to demonstrate integrity."

Taxpayers faced a similar situation in 2006 when The Spectator made requests for salary, expense and benefit information for the president of McMaster. The university spent $66,000 on legal fees trying to keep the president's contract from being public. In the end, The Spectator reporting showed the president's contract contained a $1,399,986 exit package structured as 14 annual payments of $99,999. The amount was $1 shy of the amount that would have required disclosure on the Sunshine List.

Several years ago, the president of Ornge also came under scrutiny for evading sunshine rules when the Toronto Star launched an investigation into his salary. For years, the executive was not on the disclosure lists; then it was learned he was earning millions of dollars that were never publicly disclosed.

After the investigation, Matthews also called for accountability and transparency.

In an interview with The Spectator in February, Matthews said new rules aren't needed to ensure executives don't evade or stretch the rules to get around the Broader Public Sector Executive Compensation Act.

She said she trusts people to do the right thing. Really? When it comes to high-end compensation, some institutions are scoffing at disclosure requirements, and that's just not fair.

Trust, accountability and transparency are hallmarks of a contemporary democracy. There should be no secrets when it comes to disclosing. - By Jim Poling

May 28, 2016

The investigative report on the front page of today’s Hamilton Spectator and in thespec.com is about policing, justice, transparency and doing the right thing. A second story publishes Monday.

When the Hindu Samaj Temple was deliberately set on fire days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in America, Hamilton police vowed to find the culprits. They said the matter was extremely serious, was a matter of grave public concern and it was labeled a “hate crime.”

That was Sept. 2001. In In November, 2013, three men were charged and details of the arrest were made at a high profile press conference with police brass and the mayor in attendance. Finally the case was solved and the community could begin healing.

What wasn’t disclosed about the investigation was a sordid tale of sex, sex abuse, drug use and improper conduct by a police officer who was once assigned to the arson case. They are details the public ought to have known about one of the city’s highest profile criminal cases. Many of those details are now revealed in today’s story.

The story has been almost two years in reporting. Reporters, starting with a tip, conducted dozens of interviews, chased leads, thumbed through paperwork and tried to make sense of the actions of police officer Ian Matthews who was once the lead investigator in the temple arson. On Dec. 17, 2013 Matthews walked into Central police headquarters on King William Street and shot himself.

His suicide was disturbing. Matthews was an extremely popular police officer and man. He had a lengthy commendation record as a homicide detective and was a media darling – he often gave insights about an investigation and thought it important to tell reporters details about a case even when police brass said no. Matthews believed publicizing information about cases he was working on helped explain things to the public and played a role in solving crimes.

Today’s story is about Ian Matthews and transparency. It is about a gregarious and troubled detective and it is a story that some readers will have difficulty with. During the pursuit of this story, we stopped many times and asked ourselves if we were on the right track. Several times we didn’t have the information we needed or facts didn’t add up. We stopped. Then new information would come forward and we started again. We pursued documents filed in court. We learned the allegations against Matthews were known to several high-ranking police officers with the Hamilton Police Service. Matthews' actions were investigated by officers with the Niagara Regional Police and they were also investigated by another independent police agency, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director.

Those investigations were not been made public and they raise serious questions about the actions of a police officer sworn to protect the public, about police oversight and about justice served. The story exposes dark actions by a troubled and beloved police officer and in telling the story we are serving the public good. We have taken care to be responsible, measured and are reporting in the public interest.

January 29, 2016

On the very morning when the final edition of the pre-Confederation Guelph Mercury came off the presses, a short essay landed on my desk. Written by 13-year-old Emma Frketich, daughter of ace Spec reporter Joanna Frketich, it is a heartfelt piece about a trip the newsroom and pressroom. When Emma was 10-years-old, she visited the pressroom and the moment stuck with her. She wrote the essay for a class assignment.

As if there weren't enough tears last night and this morning, Emma's reporting brought another deluge. Karma kid, and thanks for getting it right.

January 13, 2016

Sean Penn and Rolling Stone magazine are getting much attention for a meandering 10,000 word story on Mexican drug lord El Chapo. Journalist Scott Radley discusses the story with Jim Poling. Is Penn's story journalism?

Feras Saedam is a Palestinian mathematician and freelance journalist living in Hamilton with his wife and four children. They were refugees in three countries – Iraq, Syria and Turkey – before coming to Canada in 2014. He recently left Hamilton and moved to B.C. to settle with his family and friends.In December, Feras was interviewed by The Hamilton Spectator to talk about his refugee experience (see links at bottom of page). Before he moved, he was invited to visit with journalists in The Spec newsroom. I invited him to write about his Spec experience and his thoughts on the role of press freedom:

Feras - above - telling his story in the pressroom at The Hamilton Spectator. Photo, below - Feras with Spec photographer Gary Yokoyama.

"In Middle East where I wrote for some Arabic newspapers, the press smell we have is the odour of the one person glorification... it is the smell of lying, of promoting the regime propaganda, it is the smell of the blood and the burned skin of many Arab reporters and journalists who were assassinated or tortured because they sought free speech..."

By Feras Saedam

While I’m driving to The Hamilton Spectator newspaper building, I being to ask myself, “Will I be asked to show my ID? Is visiting a newspaper a routing thing? Or maybe the building will be guarded by soldiers, or even a single policeman at the gate.”

I saw nothing of what I thought. I pushed the main door and saw a lady at the reception smiling and asking gently how she could help me. You see, I thought it would be like Middle East TV stations and newspaper buildings where they were always surrounded by security, tanks, soldiers, and heavy guns. In those non-democratic countries the possibility of military coup is a common thing, and it usually starts with controlling the national TV channels and newspapers buildings.

I’ve been invited to the paper by Jim Poling the managing editor and Cheryl Stepan, the paper’s photo and Saturday editor. The invitation came after Spec journalist Jon Wells interviewed me and my family about our journey to Canada. I also wrote a personal piece in the paper to accompany the story.

I attended the morning news meeting attended by Spectator journalists. The meeting extends to about an hour and for me it was a good example of team working in journalism, and how they perform in such meetings, they made a quick evaluation for the current addition and discussed the possibility of coming topics.

The real excitement started when Jim took me for a tour of the newsroom, stopping in the different sections and departments. The first was the editing space, it was a big hall divided to 2 big parts, one for the morning shift and the other for night one. Computers, small desks are put together, and some journalists were sitting to desks and doing their jobs, writing, editing, arranging interviews or coming projects.

We moved on and went to next lower level, the pre-press area where plates are etched and prepared for the press. Then, we went to the place where huge printing machines are located. At the gate Jim said, “Do you smell the chemicals and inks smells? It’s the freedom smell.” It was. It is. They were very impressive words; they taught my heart and started a storm of memories in my mind and lots of ideas. I said, In Middle East where I grew up and wrote for some Arabic newspapers, the press smell we have is the odour of the one person glorification, the head of the regime, it is the smell of lying, of promoting the regime propaganda, it is the smell of the blood and the burned skin of many Arab reporters and journalists who were assassinated or tortured because they sought free speech, freedom of people.

I asked about the machines, where were they had been made? Jim said they were primarily from the United States with some parts from Europe - possibly Italy or Germany. The printing in English language, the writers from all the countries, in a Canadian city, all of this globalization and humanity in the press and the journalism industry, it is a huge humanitarian achievement, and a result of the long struggle to achieve freedom, that level of freedom of speech that the West should be proud about.

We returned to the main newsroom and I found Gary Yokoyama, the photographer in the Spec sitting at his desk. I met Gary for the first time when he came to my house and took photos for my family for the interview. Gary told me about the old days last century, when he used to use a dark room to copy and process the photos. He pointed to a place at the end of the big hall where the dark room used to be, things changed, Gary said, technology changed this career but the passion still as it is. Jim who started in the Spec years ago as a reporter, and now he is managing editor told me about

the days when there were few computers and how the journalists had to share them, and the equipment that used to receive the news from the international news agencies.

Jim and I went back to Cheryl’s desk, I thanked him so much for this unique experience, and he was a humble gentleman, inviting a Palestinian-Canadian writer whom he gave this opportunity to watch closely at the Hamilton Spectator newspaper and wonderful people who work there.

Around 11 a.m. I had coffee with Jon Wells, a bright journalist, and Cheryl Stepan, a brilliant writer and an editor. It was an unforgettable moment with both of them. I told them as friends my untold story about my journey when I was in Iraq, and they kindly brought Christmas gifts for my family.

It was an emotional moment for us and although the three of us are journalists and wordsmiths, we found ourselves helpless, and there are no words to express what we felt, no words can describe how much people are close, despite they may speak different languages, or have different colours, different heritage, and different roads in life, they still coming from the same man and the same women.

January 07, 2016

Nothing like a good debate and it gets better when it involves my favorite topic - newspapers and the great value they provide society every day.

Just before Christmas a reporter from Metro called to ask me about the future of the newspaper industry. I gave her my thoughts (I continue to remain bullish and optimistic). The interview can be found here. My thoughts were contrasted with John Miller, a long-time journalist and j-prof. (I didn't know the interview would lead to this debate format. Transparency would have been good, but it made for a fun Christmas newspaper discussion).

2016 is sure to bring more change to the newspaper industry. Legacy business models are falling, changing, evolving around us. Communication and societal norms are changing. As my colleague and fellow newsroom editor Shaun Herron pointed out this morning with a pithy quote: "This is the social equivalent of the industrial revolution."

Yes print is changing. The need for good conversation and quality content isn't.

Richard Brennan’s been a journalist for 43 years and made a career parsing politicians’ words. It’s how he earned his nickname “The Badger.”

His is often the voice in a scrum asking, prodding, demanding, “just answer the question,” or “what does that mean” or “do you mean to say?”

Brennan, 66, a reporter with the Toronto Star is a journalistic force at Queen’s Park where he carved out a newspaper career holding Ontario’s elected officials to account. Brennan's been at Queen's Park on and off since 1979 when Bill Davis was premier. Tomorrow is his final day in the press gallery. He got his start with the Ingersoll Times, has worked for the Windsor Star, Waterloo Region Record, the former Southam News and The Toronto Star. His byline has appeared in The Hamilton Spectator numerous times.

When Brennan says something he means it - except when he says goodbye. Over 100 people gathered in a caucus room this week for his retirement sendoff and many wondered if he truly was leaving.

This was the third time people bid Brennan farewell. He left QP the first time in 1998 for a post as city editor at The Record. He returned to Queen's Park for The Star in 1999 and left again in 2006 to be the GTA bureau chief. In 2007 he transferred to The Star's parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. In 2013 he came back to QP.

His retirement is the real deal and he went out with as powerful and classy sendoff that I’ve ever seen a journalist receive. There were four former Ontario premiers, one current premier, a chairman of the board, senior editors, a gallery of journalists, several MPPs former and present, police, a spouse, two grown children, a five-month-old grandchild. Two bartenders. There were greetings from a sixth former premier and bon voyage note from Toronto’s present mayor.

The speeches were cheeky and poignant. When the premiers spoke there were many barbs and some untilled ground was turned over. Particularly interesting was how each of the premiers spoke of Brennan and the public service role he performed.

Ernie Eves, much vilified during his days in the Conservative Mike Harris government and later when he became Premier, said despite fractious differences, the press is valuable. He said politicians need to be accountable and should be accountable and that is a fundamental role of journalists.

This was not a formal setting where words were carefully scripted or meant for public consumption. When the premiers spoke, it was from the heart and you knew they meant it when they talked of cherishing good journalism and the role it plays in instilling good government.

October 07, 2015

September 09, 2015

What makes a story? Media mangers makes hundreds of decisions daily about what to cover and what not cover. In this audio interview Scott Radley @radleyatthespec and I discuss why Apple will receive a barrage of attention today from media in its latest product. You can the interview here: Media bites the big Apple